Air India faces fresh round of unrest

MUMBAI: Air India will see fresh round of agitation by employees as Aviation Industry Employees Guild, the union which represents close to 8,000 employees, has threatened to go on strike from January 14 in protest against the delay in payment of salaries.

Employees of the national carrier have not been paid salaries for the last two months. The union has served a notice on the chief labour commissioner, seeking to start the strike if the Air India management is not ready to pay salaries on time.

"If the management can strictly implement 'no work, no pay' principle then in all fairness we should be entitled to adopt 'no pay, no work'. We ask all our employees to be in readiness for any form of agitation including strike to press for payment," said the notice which was reviewed by ET.

The airline has also not paid sustenance allowance and productivity-linked incentives, to employees for five months. Cabin crew, who get 70% of their salaries in the form of sustenance allowance, is struggling to survive as they travel frequently to international destinations.

"We are in an overseas destination for 24 hours to 72 hours. How do we sustain when the airline is providing only bed and breakfast? We require atleast $50 everyday to survive in an overseas destination," said a cabin crew, requesting anonymity.

The first sign of turmoil erupted on Monday as 89 flight attendants, who were rostered on international flights, refused to fly. More than 100 cabin crew did not report to work. This is bound to grow as more cabin crew is likely to join the agitation shortly, said employees close to Air India employees unions.

A joint meeting of the various employees unions was also held on January 8, forcing the management to release part of salaries. Air India CMD Rohit Nandan is meeting represenatives of unions on Tuesday to discuss issues relating to pay parity and non-payment of salaries. The new civil aviation minister Ajith Singh is likely to meet the union represenatives this week to resolve the crisis.

Though the Aviation Industry Employees Guild sent the notice on December 31, the law requires atleast 5 days before the strike can start. The Air India management has reached an agreement with pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines on the issue of pay parity. This was mainly to stall strike from Indian Commercial Pilots Association ( ICPA) which could have put the airline into disarray.